𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 dark, and you were exhausted by the time it was over.

Thank god it's Friday, You thought as you prepared to leave.

"Hey, Y/n!" You stopped on your way to the door, turning to see Reo running over to you, shirt in his hand as he tried to catch up to you and put it on at the same time. Your eyes widened, realizing just how toned he was now that he was out of his school and practice clothes.

You quickly turned away.
"You better have a good reason for running up to me half-naked!" You shouted, growing even more flustered at his laugh.
"Oh, please. You can't tell me you don't like what you see," he said.
"Hell no!"
"Anyways, do you think you could come over tomorrow so we can work on our project?" He asked, and you nodded, not having to check your calendar to know you had no plans other than to sleep all day.
"Sure," you said, relieved to go to his house instead of him coming to yours. After meeting Chigiri, if your Grandad met Reo and Nagi, he'd think you were some sort of player "How about tomorrow at twelve?" You asked so you wouldn't have to wake up early, and Reo nodded.
"That'll work," he said. "I'll see you there!"

You sighed as you sank into the hot bath, allowing your exhausted muscles to relax. This week had been eventful, but at least it was in a good way. You picked up your phone from the bath tray that held your dinner, homework, and laptop, which played a random soccer game you found on youtube.

Text from Reo.

You almost forgot that he put in his contact information, but the text held a twenty-minute walk away making you doubt your grandfather would want you to walk all the way there alone, so you thanked Reo before closing his contact and opening another one.

you

Hey, would you mind walking me to Reo's house?

Isagi
...
Reo? Like my teammate?

you

Yeah, we have a class project together and he wanted me to come over and work with him
and Nagi.

Isagi

Are you sure you want to go to Reo's?

you

Why wouldn't I be?
I mean, I'd rather go over there
than him come over here and meet my grandfather

Isagi
...

H̸̢̨̯͚̰͙̟̮̣̹̻͚̩͔̱̺̬̟͉͚̍̍̌̐͛̂é̸̢̨̯͚̰͙̟̮̣̹̻͚̩͔̱̬̟͉͚̍̍̌̐͛̂'̵̡̨̨̬̱͈̦̦̤̍ ̙̲͚̔̊̿̃͂͊̈̏͗̔̈́̈́̈́́̍̀͑͌͂͊̒͌́͊͠ş̷̂́̎͐ ̶̶̶̶̧̨̧̨̳̖̠̥̲͉̲̗͕̪̮͑͆͊͆͆͘ ̙̠̥̲͉̲̗͕͖͖̪̮͔͑͆́͆̋͐̈́͊͂̊̋̋̌͌̀̍̀͊̃̏̇̉̕ṉ̵̡̱̝͚̫̘̱́ ̶ͯ̕̕͘͝͠ ̿̓̑̕̕͜͝͠ͅś̵̡̱̱̝̺͚̫̯͔͙͉̱͉̤̿̈́̿̓̑̊̊̕͝͠ͅt̶̖̿̈̈́̿́́̈́̾̚͠͝ͅą̷̛͉̼̮͇ͪ́́́́́ ̽͐̎̔̈̈́̾̊̃̒̄̊̈̒́̀̃͘̚͝͝͝b̶̨̢̨͈̤̜̲̫̯̫į̵̨̢̨̼̖̜͈̤̜̲̫̯̫̘̥̘̥̥̄̊̈̒́̀́́̈̒́̀͝͝͝͝͝ĭ̵̵̵̼̅ ́̍͘͜b̶̨̢̨͈̤̜̲̬̯̎ļ̵̢̖͕̯̼͈̟̜̫̫͔̘̭̥̏̽̆̀̍͘͜ë̷̶̢̧̟̱͙̬̥̩̞͔͙̣͉̺ ̎͜ͅͅ

̶̟̣̈́́̀͊̍̒̈̊͗͜͝ʇ̸̻̈́̈̐͂͑̋ ̶̟̣̬̳̳̈́́̍̒̈̊͗͜͝ʇ̸̻̈́̈̐͂͑̋S̵͔̗̻̫͋ṋ̵̡̤͉̯̬̳̳̦̤́ ̈́͆͜ʇ̶̝͙̗̤̣͖͊̅͛̒̓ ̸̰̤̥̬͔̠̣͌̌͒̌̓̒, ̵̖͕̣̗̼̝̅͊̀̽̚ʇ̶̱̓́̓̚̕͝U̸̧̧̅̓̒, ̵̶̖͕̣̱̓̓ʻ ̓̚̕͝U̸̧̧̓̒, ̵̖͕̣̗̼̝̅͊̀̽̚ʇ̶̱̓́̓̚̕͝U̸̧̪̓̓̒, ̵̖͕̣̗̼̝̅͊̀̽̚ʇ̶̱̫̓́̓̚̕͝U̸̧̎̓̓̓̓ ̻̃̂̏̔ᗡ̴͖̤̓̎̄͂̆̈́͠

Your brow furrowed at the distortion of the text, but before you could ask him to clarify or even try to read it, a low-battery notification suddenly appeared before your entire screen went dark.
"What the hell?" You muttered as you set the phone down on the tray. Looks like you'd be pretty busy tomorrow; going to see Reo and get your phone looked at and maybe replaced. You sighed as you leaned your head against the tub and closed your eyes. Just a few more minutes wouldn't hurt.

"Where are you going today?" Your grandfather asked from his place at the stove as you walked down the stairs, happy to be dressed in regular clothes rather than your uniform. Now that you thought about it, you might have gone a little overboard in your excitement. You wore a black cropped tank top with a Jean jacket and some patchwork jeans to match.
"I'm going to a friend's house to work on a school project," you said. "Also, can I have some money? My phone's been acting up, so I was gonna go to town and see if I can go ahead and get an upgrade."
"Sure," your grandfather said, fishing his wallet from his pocket, but before he could pull a card from it, the sound of the doorbell ringing made him turn the stove down. "I'll get it," he said, and While he went to the door, you sat down to eat, pulling out your phone to turn it on for the first time since last night.

Message from Isagi

Was the top notification among the others, and you quickly opened it. The distorted text was gone, making you wonder if it had been there or if the heat of the bath had gone to your head.

Isagi

Sure. What time do you need me over?

Y/n?

It had been sent last night. You opened your keyboard to respond to him, but your grandfather's voice made you pause.

"Isagi!" He exclaimed. "It's great to see you. What brings you here?"
"Good morning, Mr. L/n." You heard Isagi's voice reply. "Y/n asked me to walk her to a friend's house, but I didn't know when to show up, so I just decided to go after breakfast and hopefully spend some time with her if I'm early."

How sweet, you thought to yourself. You and Isagi hadn't gotten a chance to talk and catch up yet.

"Y/n, Isagi's here!" Your grandpa called, and you scarfed down the rest of your food before rushing over to the door.

"Hey Yoichi!" you greeted with a mouthful of food. Isagi's eyes widened when he saw your outfit, finally beginning to realize how much you had matured since you were kids.
"G'morning, Y/n. I'm glad I wasn't late," he said, and you shook your head.
"Yeah, sorry for ghosting you like that. My phone died, then I fell asleep," you explained. "I heard you wanted to spend some time with me?" Your friend's face exploded in red at the question he asked while thinking he was alone.
"W-well, I mean, i-it's been a while since we've seen each other. A-and we've both been busy with school and stuff, so I thought this weekend would be a good time to catch up! B-but if you don't want to, that's fine too since I know you like your time alone..." You chuckled at his rambling before holding a hand up, and as by command, he stopped at once.
"We should probably get going to meet with Reo now," you said. "But I should be done by 1:30 or 2:00. If that's not too late for you, we could do something then." Isagi nodded quickly.
"S-sure!" You smiled as you retreated into the house, motioning for him to follow and close the door behind him.
"Lemme just grab my bag, and we can go."

"You have some competition." Isagi was so busy watching you rush upstairs, the sound of your grandfather's voice made him jump.
"What do you mean, sir?" He asked.
"Some pink-haired fellow seemed pretty close with her at the mall the other day," your grandfather said. "And this may be speculation, but I can't believe the soccer team had a manager like her, and not one person's eyes haven't lingered a little too long." Isagi lowered his head. The pink-haired fellow was probably Chigiri, but he had never noticed any of his teammates looking at you.

Or had he and he just ignored it?

Practically seeing the gears in the boy's head turn, your grandfather patted him on the back.
"Don't hurt yourself, boy," he chuckled. "Just try to get a little closer to her. You're probably the one who'll be able to do it the easiest."

"So what's this project you're working with Reo on anyway?" Isagi asked as you walked down the sidewalk.
"Oh, it's a three-person project between me, him, and Nagi," you explained. "We're supposed to research uncommon mental disorders and write about them, but since Nagi's been sleeping during class, we haven't gotten much work done."
"That sounds like Nagi," Isagi chuckled to himself.
"Oh, and I meant to ask you," you said. "If you don't have anywhere special to go today, would you mind if we stopped by the phone place? My phone's been acting strange lately."
"Sure," he said. "There's probably a repair store around the place we're going anyway."
"And where is that?" You asked curiously, only to be met with a mischievous smile.
"That's a surprise."

After a while, the two of you turned a corner and were met with rows of fancy houses.
"Damn," you muttered, unable to believe that you once thought your grandfather's house was one of the nicer places in town. The houses here made his house seems like some run-down apartment.

Strange, you thought. You didn't remember seeing these houses during any of your previous stays. Had they always been here? You tried to think about it, but Isagi's voice stopped you from thinking too much about it.

"Pick your jaw up off the floor," he joked, but in the half second it took for him to say that, you forgot the question entirely, almost as if it was erased from your mind. Now all you were left with was the feeling that you were onto something important. "Half of these houses aren't even bought."

After closer inspection, you realized he was right. Most of the houses had no cars in the driveway, and most even had a for sale sign in the yard.

"Wait, so if Reo lives here, does that mean he's some sort of rich kid?" You asked.
"Yep," Isagi replied somewhat begrudgingly. "That boy is damn near spoiled rotten, so much so that the only thing he wants is the stuff he can't buy." Your brow furrowed. He didn't come off as spoiled or rude anytime you talked to him, but it's not like you'd known him long enough to be able to really tell.

Your eyes landed on a black and white two-story house, and you nudged Isagi and pointed.
"See that one, right there?" You asked. "That's gonna be my dream house." Isagi raised a brow.
"Really?"
"Yep. I'm gonna become the best doctor in the world, make me a shit ton of money, get me a fine ass husband, and that's where we're gonna live with our two kids and three dogs." Isagi burst out laughing as the two of you came to the end of the road where the largest house sat.

"You were always someone who knew what you wanted," he laughed, and you shrugged, refusing to be bothered by his laughter.
"Alright, when you end up broke on the side of the street 'cause you don't know what you want, don't come knocking on my door asking for handouts." Isagi continued to smile even as his laughter died down.
"Oh, I know what I want," he assured.
"And what's that?"
"I'm gonna become the world's best striker, make a shit ton of money, get me a fine wife, and live in that house with our two kids and three dogs."
"Oh?" You said as he pointed to the house you had just pointed to. "And who's this fine wife gonna be?"
"You tell me—"

"Hey! Y/n!" You were interrupted by the sound of Reo's voice, and you both turned to see Reo standing in the doorway of the house in front of you. Isagi walked with you to the front porch. "Oh, and you brought Isagi here too," Reo's smile waved at the sight of the raven-haired male, who looked equally unhappy to see him.

"Hey, Reo—"
"Come on, Y/n, Nagi's waiting inside." Before you could bid Isagi goodbye, Reo grabbed your hand and pulled you to his side, shooting Isagi a glare as he led you into the house.